Roast chicken with bread sauce, game chips and stuffing
Try James Martin’s delicious recipe for chicken roasted with cream cheese – it makes it deliciously moist.
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 110g/4oz cream cheese
- 75g/3oz fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large chicken, preferably organic
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú butter, softened
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 150ml/5fl oz white wine
- 300ml/10fl oz chicken stock
For the stuffing
For the bread sauce
- 1 large onion, peeled
- 6 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 black peppercorns
- 450ml/1 pint full-fat milk
- 110g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú butter
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the spring greens
- 6 slices streaky bacon, roughly chopped
- 50g/2oz butter
- 300g/11oz spring greens, thinly sliced
For the game chips
- vegetable oil, for deep-frying
- 1 large baking potato, sliced very thinly on a mandoline
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
For the chicken, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Mix the cream cheese and basil together in a bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag.
Place the chicken into a roasting tin then carefully ease your hand under the skin of the chicken. Carefully pipe half of the cream cheese mixture under the skin, then gently spread it out over the whole breast. Pipe the remaining mixture onto the legs, then smear it out until the legs are covered.
Rub the butter and olive oil over the chicken and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Roast the chicken for 20 minutes per 450g/1lb, basting regularly. To check whether the chicken is cooked, push a skewer into the thigh at the thickest point. If the juices run clear the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken from the roasting tin and set aside to rest.
To make the gravy, place the roasting tin onto the hob and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon and scraping up all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until the volume of the wine has reduced by half. Add the stock and simmer for 5 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then pass the gravy through a sieve into a jug and keep warm until ready to serve.
Make the stuffing according to the packet instructions, then place into a roasting tray, dot with butter and bake in the oven to roast for 20-25 minutes until crispy.
For the bread sauce, stud the onion all over with the cloves, then place into a saucepan along with the bay leaf, peppercorns and milk. Bring the mixture to the boil, remove the pan from the heat and set to cool for 15 minutes. Remove the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns, then stir in the breadcrumbs. Return the pan to the heat and cook very gently for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the breadcrumbs have absorbed all the liquid. Stir in the butter and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For the spring greens, heat a frying pan until hot, add the bacon and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until just crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside to drain on kitchen paper. Add the butter, spring greens and 75ml/3fl oz water and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the greens have wilted. Stir in the bacon.
For the game chips, heat the vegetable oil in a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan until a small cube of bread sizzles and turns golden when dropped into it. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
Deep-fry the potato slices for 1-2 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove the game chips from the oil with a slotted spoon, set aside to drain on kitchen paper and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
To serve, carve the chicken into slices, and place onto serving plates along with the bread sauce, spring greens, game chips, stuffing and gravy.